Health officials so far have found no link between sickness and the toxins emitted into the air, but that isn’t consoling residents.

The hours-long town hall meeting on Monday – at times raucous – came ahead of an administrative hearing Wednesday, at which regulators will try to force two metal processing facilities to stop releasing elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen known to cause cancer.

“My nephew wakes up weekly with bloody noises,” said Michael Alva, a lifelong resident who suffers from chronic lung disease, told air district officials. He lives a block from two metal processing facilities.

“I am telling you this isn’t just in the air. I believe it is in our water, in our soil,” he said to a round of applause from neighbors who are pushing regulators and health officials to take a hard look at emissions from Paramount’s robust industrial sector.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has been sweeping through the city over the past few weeks after air monitors near Anaplex Corp. and Aerocraft Heat Treating Co. detected levels of hexavalent chrome at 350 times above normal.

Since then, the California Air Resources Board, the Department of Toxic Substance Control, the city of Paramount, county fire and health departments and the SCAQMD have visited 170 facilities. The air district so far has issued five violations, including one to Carlton Forge Works for public nuisance.

It was Carlton Forge Works that first attracted the attention of air officials in 2013 after neighbors complained of a burning metal smell.

The district eventually placed two toxic metal emissions monitors near the company and found concerning levels of nickel and hexavalent chromium. Carlton brought down its nickel levels, but the district expanded the monitoring area.

After the district expanded the number of monitors, and will argue in front of an administrative hearing board Wednesday that Anaplex and Aerocraft should either stop emitting the toxin or shut down operations.

“The chromium hot spots in Paramount are very concerning to me and to the residents and cannot and will not be taking this lightly,” newly-elected Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said at Monday’s meeting. “They need to bring down these emissions immediately, and if they do not comply, AQMD must shut them down.”

Hahn said if the district is unsuccessful at getting the companies to stop, she will make sure the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health does.

Cyrus Rangan, who heads the department’s Bureau of Toxicology and Environmental Assessment, assured residents the department will be in it for the long haul.

“We know that urgent action is required on this and we will be right here until the end. An area like Paramount is not just about chromium levels,” he said. “We want to look at some longer-term aspects about what it means to live in (industry-heavy) areas like Paramount.”